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One of the most important parts of a content marketing strategy is offering fun-to-read, informative and interesting content that make your readers excited to click and find out more. However, the title of your content can have a huge impact on how successful it is at generating interest and motivating your readers to take action.

A listicle or list article is one of the most effective formats for an article or blog post. A listicle is enticing, because it promises upfront to condense any subject matter into a manageable number of bullet points or steps that a reader can use and implement.

The listicle is a favorite for good reason: it works. The main reason for this is that it has the power to grab the reader's attention simply from the power of its headline.

This kind of content often lends itself well to evergreen topics and tips that are very popular. Readers love easy headlines that are also quickly consumable. Lists that offer a number of reasons, secrets, types or ways to do something will capture an audience's attention, because they make a very clear promise about what’s in store for the reader. They also entice the reader to click, but you'll have to deliver quality content if you want to keep the reader engaged. Listicles can do that effectively, time and time again —plus, they're usually very easy to build in your favorite blogging or marketing automation software.

These types of posts are perfect for building your authority in a certain field or demonstrating mastery in a specific area of expertise. When it comes to business blogging, it's key to show what you know and put it in a format that's easy to consume. Ask us how we can create weekly, SEO-friendly blog content (including listicles!) for you or look at the examples below to learn more.

If you want to take your marketing campaigns to the next level, you've got to test them. How do you do that? With A/B testing. It's sometimes called split testing. What is A/B testing? It's basically comparing two versions of a web page, email or banner to see which one performs better.

You can compare these by showing the two variants, calling them A and B, to similar visitors simultaneously. See which one gives the best conversion rate and then use that one moving forward! It's simple, but also necessary.

It's obvious to any marketer nowadays that you should use email marketing as a way to stay connected with your target audience. Despite the wide array of different strategies available to marketers, having a well-developed email marketing plan is integral to your overall marketing campaign. It's an excellent way and the most productive channel for getting the best ROI. 
 
Yet, don't expect the stars and the moon from your email marketing strategy if it's not done right. If you haven't planned out a sustained email marketing effort, it simply won't be effective. You can’t just send out whatever and expect it to get results. A well-planned and thought-out strategy has to take into account your customer's likes and behaviors, and has to then target them efficiently. 
 
Here are some tips about how to do it:

It's the beginning of 2017 and if you still haven't gotten on board the video marketing train, there's still time.

You may have already used some form of video in your marketing strategy at some point. As the new year begins, it's clear that 2016 was a year of revolution in video marketing and that you cannot survive without video marketing any longer.

Wyzowl released statistics for last year that reported 61% of businesses have used video as a marketing tool and 66% of these same companies never used video a mere year earlier. It's a trend that's progressed rapidly, and keeps growing faster than we think because:

• 75 million people in U.S. watch videos online everyday
• Embedded videos on web sites can increase traffic up to 55%
• Simply having the word "video" in the subject line of an email can increase open rates by 13%
• Nearly 40% of all videos today are watched on mobile devices

Everyone is creating some kind of content, so much so that that the online marketplace is saturated and has become a very crowded place. It's also an environment where old-school methods of marketing cease to be effective, so it's time to put marketing activities like cold calling behind you and tap into the power of content marketing.

Obviously, you have to create valuable content before you can promote it. But how do you create remarkable content to get their attention? Check out this awesome video from Hubspot, which gives you step-by-step instructions to make content the key to your success online.

The word is out: Instagram is one of the most important marketing tools out there. With more than 500 million users, this social network is best geared towards small businesses who want to build their brand and engage new and existing customers.

It's important to have an arsenal of tools at your side so you can begin to unlock the unique marketing opportunities that social media platforms like Instagram can provide. You'll have to incorporate it into your existing workflow, but it's definitely worth the effort.

It's an exciting way to give your audience a visual idea about who you are. Using Instagram, you can share photos and videos with hashtags, allowing you to connect directly with your customers. The more you use it, the more you will learn how to create compelling content that will engage viewers and spark conversation online. Word of mouth is still the top way for people to learn about your brand, and this is one way to start a conversation by sharing your content across all platforms.

When it comes to marketing successfully, the only way to do it, is with a plan. Having a customized strategic game plan for your business means that you are utilizing your resources to their maximum capacity. And sometimes that means getting help externally, but usually some expert wisdom, advice and insight is all it takes to get your marketing plan to the next step: successful!

It's all about learning where to focus your time and to get the highest ROI from your marketing efforts. If you try to do that blind, without a plan in place then potential benefits or advantages that you might have in your market might get overlooked, since you might not know how to use the analytics you have or the expensive inbound marketing tool you've paid for. What good are they if you don't have a way to analyze and implement changes?

You need a customized plan that is well-suited for your specific business if you want to gain a better understanding of what needs to be done, how and why.

That's why it's smart to find a collaborative partner to help you gain a better understanding of what needs to happen to execute your marketing plan successfully, and that's when an experienced and savvy digital marketing agency can come in handy. 

More and more, little screens are stealing previous seconds of our attention, when we should be doing things like listening to a child, spouse or friend, working or even driving. Every day, the temptation to look at our mobile devices gets more addictive as people become more dependent on instant information and become masters of multitasking.

When you have so many distractions coming in from social media updates, live video, and non-stop streams of tempting click-bait digital content, it becomes harder and harder to market to your audience since you know their attention, just like yours is split up into many different areas. Not only will you have to catch their attention, you'll have to keep it as long as you can, and that's not very long.

Recently, it's been estimated that the average person is so distracted by their screens that they check their phone more than 1,500 times a week. So, if our attention spans as social beings have shrunk, it's no major shock. It's only last 8 seconds so you have to accomplish a lot in a little bit of time.

Keeping someone's attention and maintaining their concentration, to have them focused on your message is a massive deal. So, when it comes to marketing, capturing the attention of your audience is essential to developing a scheme that not only delivers your message but makes sure it's noticed and remembered.

If you can make them laugh, well then you've won half the battle, and probably you've won them over too.

One of the best times to witness big companies using their funny bones to their advantage is in January/February. The most sought-after and highly awaited commercials are played during the NFL's championship final: the Super Bowl, and without disappointing, year after year they deliver cutting-edge humorous content that speaks to millions of consumers in a way that only humor can.

Out are the professional, serious and stiff images that were de riguer when marketing first became an acknowledged activity for mainstream businesses to do. Since then, due the nature of the online world, where 'going viral' is the holy grail for marketers, humor has been one way in which they have achieved their legend status. There are commercials and campaigns from years past that still get talked about today and are the benchmark for marketers right now.                                                      

Planning out your marketing strategy for 2017 probably already happened in 2016, but despite being ready to meet the challenges of the new year, we encourage you to make sure you have considered these important trends and if you haven't, then make them a part of your strategy now, since they currently make up the key elements to a successful and effective Internet marketing plan.  
 
It never hurts to make tweaks here and there along the way, especially considering how fast content marketing is evolving—being digital, that's a given. So when planning and implementing moves, you're not just setting yourself up for 2017, but also for 2018 and beyond. A macro-oriented view will help you see the bigger picture on where you want your content marketing strategy to take your business. Here are the trends not to miss out on...